Right Here Waiting

Brian knew it was extremely late, but he didn’t care. He needed to do this.

He made his way down the streets as he vaguely remembered the directions. He took the steps to the house two at a time, and knocked a few times on the door. He didn’t really expect anyone to answer, so when the door opened after a few minutes, he was shocked.

So was David.

He opened the door widely, but when he saw it was Brian on the other side, he moved to shut it. Brian put his hand on the door.

“I ought to kick your fucking ass,” Brian started.

“I’m calling the cops.”

“However,” Brian said in a tone that meant he wasn’t finished. “I’m not going to. I just want to talk.”

“Why?”

“I want to thank you.”

“Why on earth would you want to thank me?”

“You helped Eliza and her dad.”

“You’re shitting me.”

“No, David. I’m serious. I’m really thanking you for helping them out.”

“He needed it. I honestly did love her, and I figured if he was going to be my father-in-law I needed to.”

“Still, you didn’t have to and you did. I want to thank you, really.”

“You’re welcome, I think,” David said and scratched his head. “How is she?”

“She’s fine, I think.”

“You mean you guys aren’t together?” David asked, confused.

“No. I said a lot of hurtful things to her and now I’ve got to make it up to her.”

“Don’t take her flowers,” David said. He laughed, and realized what he was doing and stopped.

“She doesn’t like them?”

David hesitated before answering.

“No, not at all. She hated flowers. If I were you, I’d take red velvet cupcakes. She can’t get enough of those things.”

“Thanks for that. Look, really the reason I came here is because I want to pay what she owes you.”

“No, Brian, I’m not going to take your money.”

“Please, let me do this.”

“Why?”

“I need to.”

David looked at the guy in the doorway. Honestly, he didn’t see why Eliza was attracted to him, but he could see why she was in love with him. He did all those sweet things David never did. The only piece of jewelry he’d gotten her was her engagement ring. Not only that, but Brian got the whole music thing when it came to Eliza. They connected on a way David and Eliza would never be able to.

He’d put Eliza through hell, and he was done with it, now. He wanted her to be happy.

“She doesn’t owe me anything.”

“What do you mean? I was told she owed you like twenty thousand.”

“No, she doesn’t owe me anything.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying it’s taken care of. She doesn’t owe me anything; I put her through enough hell. Just…make her happy, okay?”

“Yeah, I can do that,” Brian said and watched as David shut the door.



Eliza sat on the front porch, smoking her cigarette.

She had immediately left the concert afterwards, hoping that Brian would follow her. She knew it was a long shot, considering he was still on tour, but she still hoped he would. She didn't get upset as time passed, completely aware of his responsibilities.

She saw Joel walking down the sidewalk to the house. She put her cigarette out and stood up as he made his way up the steps. They hugged and said hello as Joel sat down in the chair opposite of hers.

“I’ve got something to tell you,” Joel said with a mysterious smile.

“Spill.”

“I was at the concert yesterday.”

“Joel, that was on the other side of the country!”

“I know, but you were singing my song. I had to see it. Plus, I really wanted to hear you play guitar and when you told me you were playing two songs you wrote, I knew I had to be there.”

“What did you think?”

“I think it was great, but it’s not what I think that counts.”

“What are you talking about?” Eliza asked, confused.

“Matt and Jimmy told me everything.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, they told me everything about you and Brian and Amber. They told me about how you auditioned for Unlimited Industries, and how Amber fucked it up for you.”
“Alright… What are you getting at?”

“What I’m getting at is,” Joel said with a smile. He pulled a manila packet from behind his back. Somehow, Eliza hadn’t seen it before. “I happen to know Jennifer Donnelly really well. She’s the woman who made the call Amber picked up. She made the trip with me.”

“She came with you to Massachusetts?”

“Yeah, she did. She and I talked the whole way there and I explained to her what happened. She’s considering pressing charges against Amber and thinks you should, too.”

“That’s not important right now,” Eliza said, waving her hand.

“You’re right. What is important is the fact that she was stunned by you. This packet,” he said, placing the folder in between them. “This packet contains everything you’ll need to know about being signed with Unlimited Industries.”

Eliza stared at Joel for a minute, letting that sentence sink in. She slowly looked down at the envelope on the table and reached for it. Opening it, she found a letter on top of the stack of papers.

Eliza,
I want to sincerely apologize for what happened before. Joel told me everything, and we take complete responsibility for allowing another girl to come in and pose as you. For that, I want to offer you a position with our company. We want to sign you as soon as possible. I understand that you’re a producer; however, I think you have amazing talent, and I would love to work with you in the future. Included in this envelope is a contract. Take as long as you like to have you and your attorney look over it to make sure everything is alright.
Again, I want to apologize for the events that happened before and I hope to see you in the future.

Jennifer Donnelly

“Joel, are you kidding me right now?”

“No, Eliza, I’m not kidding you right now. This is completely for real, I promise you.”

She screamed. She stood up, screamed again, and jumped on top of Joel.

“You’ve got to be shitting me.”

“No, Eliza, I swear this is real.”

She screamed again.

Joel watched as she flipped excitedly through the packet. Tears were coming out of her eyes, but he knew they were happy tears from the huge smile on her face. He couldn’t keep the smile off of his face, either.

“I’ve got to go call Val and Katie,” Eliza said, still laughing.

“Go call them, then,” Joel said, and watched as she danced her way into the house.